What Are The Search Results When You Google 'Antitrust'?

Yielding to the European Union's threat of massive fines, Google will reportedly change the way it displays search results and, in some cases, even include links to rival search engines.

Earlier this year, the Internet giant capitulated to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission after a 19-month investigation, promising to change its advertising practices.

How do the world's most powerful governments get away with treating Google like a villain? After all, this is a company that has built a reputation for improving people's lives in a thousand ways.

Just ask the millions of visitors who type keywords into Google's legendary search engine, or who use the many other services — email, maps, videos, travel arrangements, comparison shopping, books, and the like — that Google offers for free. Yes, for free.

The answer lies buried in the unavoidable vagaries of antitrust law — an irrational regime that grants competitive grumblings the exalted status of legal injuries, then empowers government enforcers to override market outcomes.

In Google's case, the grumblings are coming from rivals and advertisers — and when their complaints are boiled down to essentials, they're angry that Google pursues its own profits without regard to the welfare or viability of competitors.

When rivals complain of "search bias," for example, what they mean is that Google's search results display the company's own services—such as Google Maps, Google Travel, or Google Shopping — in prominent positions, to enhance traffic at those sites.

But why would Google do otherwise? Like any other business, it's trying to make money for its shareholders. Since more than 95% of its revenues come from advertising, Google stands to gain by attracting more users.

Likewise, when advertisers complain about their contracts with Google, what they mean is that Google makes it difficult for them to transfer ad campaigns from Google over to rival platforms, or to compare the various platforms' efficiency.

But why would Google act differently? Businesses don't succeed by bending over backward to make it easier for rivals to take away their customers.

It hardly needs explaining why Google's practices might generate frustration and resentment in certain quarters — that's to be expected in the hurly burly of the marketplace.

But what's not so obvious is how such resentments can be confused with genuine legal injuries that merit the attention of government prosecutors. The explanation is to be found in antitrust laws that actually make it illegal for a company like Google to maintain a laser focus on its own corporate self-interest.

See Also

Can we be honest about illegal immigration, a challenge common to almost every advanced Western country that is adjacent to poorer nations? American employers and ethnic activists have long colluded to weaken border enforcement and render immigration law meaningless. The former wanted greater ...

Fifty years ago, President Lyndon Johnson traveled to Independence, Mo., to sign legislation creating Medicare and Medicaid in the presence of fellow Democrat and former President Harry Truman, who during his presidency led unsuccessful efforts to establish a national health insurance system. The ...

What an economically deranged debate we have going on in the race for the Democratic nomination for president. In one corner is an unapologetic socialist, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, who wants to raise individual income tax rates on the rich to 70% or more — apparently because it worked so ...

Ninety-five percent of black voters in 2008 voted for then-Sen. Barack Obama. Surely a "progressive" black president would care about, empathize with and understand black America in a way no other president ever has or could, right? Exit polls from Pew Research show that 63% of all voters — ...

Senate Democrats have declared that they will filibuster Republican appropriation bills passed to implement the congressional budget adopted by the House and the Senate. The Washington Post has labeled the effort "filibuster summer." And President Obama has pledged to veto any appropriation bills ...

About Investor's Business Daily

Investor’s Business Daily provides exclusive stock lists, investing data, stock market research, education and the latest financial and business news to help investors make more money in the stock market. All of IBD’s products and features are based on the CAN SLIM® Investing System developed by IBD’s Founder William J. O’Neil, who identified the seven common characteristics that winning stocks display before making huge price gains. Each letter of CAN SLIM represents one of those traits.

Select market data is provided by Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services. Price and Volume data is delayed 20 minutes unless otherwise noted, is believed accurate but is not warranted or guaranteed by Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services and is subject to Interactive Data Corp. Real Time Services terms. All times are Eastern United States. *Reflects real-time index prices.